U.S. patent number 4,246,945 [Application Number 06/092,547] was granted by the patent office on 1981-01-27 for hamper hood.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Medline Industries, Inc.. Invention is credited to Noel S. Sterling.
United States Patent |
4,246,945 |
Sterling |
January 27, 1981 |
Hamper hood
Abstract
A hamper hood for use with a hamper stand and hamper bag
comprises a circular sidewall and circular top. The top is
comprised of two partially overlapping flaps which are
semi-circular. Each flap is secured to the sidewall along its
entire curved peripheral part and is unsecured along its straight
peripheral part so that the unsecured peripheral part of one flap
substantially overlaps the unsecured peripheral part of the other
flap to assume a fully closed position. The flaps are maintained
taut, generally flat and in contact with each other along their
entire overlapping region due to tension supplied by the frame
opening of the hamper stand, but are separable for insertion of
laundry articles therebetween.
Inventors: |
Sterling; Noel S. (Northbrook,
IL) |
Assignee: |
Medline Industries, Inc.
(Northbrook, IL)
|
Family
ID: |
22233757 |
Appl.
No.: |
06/092,547 |
Filed: |
November 8, 1979 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
383/43; 220/200;
220/9.1; 383/80; 383/81 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65B
67/12 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B65B
67/00 (20060101); B65B 67/12 (20060101); A45C
011/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;150/48,49,50,51,52E,52R,3,7 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Norton; Donald F.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Dressler, Goldsmith, Shore, Sutker
& Milnamow, Ltd.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A hamper hood comprising:
a side wall having an upper edge;
a top comprising two flaps each having a periphery, the first flap
having part of its periphery secured to a portion of the upper edge
of the side wall and having an unsecured peripheral part, and the
second flap having part of its periphery attached to at least the
remainder portion of the upper edge of the side wall and having an
unsecured peripheral part, such that the unsecured peripheral part
of the second flap substantially overlaps the first flap at a
position spaced apart from the unsecured peripheral part of the
first flap, and the unsecured peripheral part of the first flap
substantially overlaps the second flap at a position spaced apart
from the unsecured peripheral part of the second flap to assume a
fully closed position and wherein the unsecured peripheral parts of
the respective flaps are separable for insertion of laundry
articles therebetween.
2. The hamper hood of claim 1 wherein a handle is secured to the
hamper hood at each of the two locations where the second flap
overlaps the first flap adjacent the side wall, so that pulling the
handles away from each other further insures that the hood is fully
closed.
3. The hamper hood of claim 2 wherein each handle has a first
secured end that is secured to the hood where the unsecured
peripheral part of the first flap meets the side wall and a second
secured end that is secured to the same side of the hood where the
unsecured peripheral edge of the second flap meets the side
wall.
4. A hamper hood for use with a hamper stand and bag mounted on
such stand comprising:
a side wall having a lowermost edge extending below the uppermost
edge of the bag;
a top having approximately the same size as the overall size of the
hamper stand at its top, comprising two flaps each having a
periphery, the first flap having part of its periphery secured to a
portion of the upper edge of the side wall and having an unsecured
peripheral part, and the second flap having part of its periphery
secured to at least the remainder portion of the upper edge of the
side wall and having an unsecured peripheral part, so that the
unsecured peripheral part of the second flap substantially overlaps
the first flap at a position spaced apart from the unsecured
peripheral part of the first flap, and the unsecured peripheral
part of the first flap substantially overlaps the second flap at a
position spaced apart from the unsecured peripheral part of the
second flap whereby the hamper stand maintains the top taut to
insure that the flaps are generally flat and juxtaposed to assume a
fully closed position, but wherein the unsecured peripheral parts
of the respective flaps are separable for insertion of laundry
articles therebetween.
5. The hamper hood of claim 4 wherein the top is generally
circularly shaped and wherein each of the two flaps is generally
semi-circularly shaped and has an area at least one-half the area
of the circularly shaped top.
6. A hamper hood for use with a hamper stand and a bag mounted on
such stand comprising:
a side wall having a lowermost edge extending below the uppermost
edge of the bag;
a generally circularly shaped top having approximately the same
size as the overall size of the hamper stand at its top, comprising
two generally semi-circularly shaped flaps, each flap having an
area at least one-half the area of the top, the first flap having
the curved portion of its periphery secured to a major portion of
the upper edge of the side wall and having an unsecured peripheral
part, and the second flap having the curved portion of its
periphery secured to at least the remainder portion of the upper
edge of the side wall and having an unsecured peripheral part, such
that the unsecured portion of the second flap region substantially
overlaps the first flap at a position spaced apart from the
unsecured peripheral part of the first flap, and the unsecured
peripheral part of the first flap substantially overlaps the second
flap at a position spaced apart from the unsecured peripheral part
of the second flap whereby the hamper stand maintains the top taut
to insure that the flaps are generally flat and juxtaposed to
assume a fully closed position, but wherein the unsecured
peripheral parts of the respective flaps are separable for
insertion of laundry articles therebetween; and
two handles, each having a first secured end that is secured to the
hood where the unsecured peripheral part of the first flap meets
the side wall, and a second secured end that is secured to the same
side of the hood where the unsecured peripheral edge of the second
flap meets the side wall, so that pulling the handles away from
each other further insures that the hood is fully closed.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to covers for hamper bags for use in laundry
depositing systems.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In laundry depositing systems, especially in medical and hospital
facilities, extensive precautions and care must be utilized to
control the spread of germs and bacteria. Soiled laundry articles
must be conveniently stored until they are removed for laundering,
and hamper bags have been used for this purpose.
However, germs and bacteria become airborne and leave the soiled
laundry articles to contaminate the atmosphere, thereby undesirably
spreading germs to patients, medical personnel, pieces of medical
apparatus and medical supplies. Prior art hamper hoods that include
a side wall and a top wall comprising a pair of flaps have been
used to attempt to control the spread of this airborne bacteria,
but have not totally succeeded due to a gap which exists between
the flaps after laundry is deposited into the laundry hamper bag.
This gap in the hamper hood has allowed infectious germs to become
airborne and contaminate the atmosphere and has also allowed
germ-carrying insects attracted to the soiled laundry to gain
access to the interior of the bag and thereafter escape, carrying
infectious germs out of the bag to contaminate other articles.
Control of these infectious germs is of utmost importance and prior
to the present invention, control of these germs has not been
satisfactorily achieved.
Another device attempting to control airborne germs is a hamper lid
made of plastic or like composition. However, upon tilting a lid of
this type to gain access to the hamper bag to deposit soiled
laundry articles, airborne germs that have built up inside of the
laundry bag are immediately released in large quantities, and
contaminate the atmosphere. Also, because these lids are made of a
non-cloth material, they require separate sanitary procedures to
disinfect the germs that build up thereon.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The foregoing disadvantages of the prior art are overcome with the
present invention which provides a hamper hood comprised of a side
wall and top. The top of the hamper hood is comprised of two flaps,
each being secured to the side wall along one part of its
periphery, and also includes an unsecured peripheral portion. The
unsecured flap peripheral portions form an overlapping region so
that they can be separated to create an opening for insertion of
laundry articles, where they can be moved from the normal
overlapped and substantially closed position, minimizing any air
gap between the flaps' peripheral portions, to an open position in
which a gap is created between the flaps for insertion of laundry
articles. The gap between the flaps is created by grasping and
moving one or both of the flaps. When the flaps are released, they
return to the overlapped position.
Two handles are disposed on the hamper hood, each being located on
an opposite side of the hood at a point where the flaps overlap
near the side wall. Pulling these handles away from each other
operates to further insure that the flaps are fully overlapped and
the hood is fully closed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
The various features of the invention will be seen from the
following drawing, in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the hamper hood of the present
invention mounted along with a hamper bag on a hamper stand, the
hood being shown in a fully closed position;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the hamper hood mounted as in FIG.
1, but with the flaps separated to create an opening; and
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional side view of the hamper hood taken
along line 3--3 of FIG. 1, shown with the flaps in the fully closed
overlapping position, and showing in phantom the position of the
flaps when they are separated as shown in FIG. 2.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many forms,
there is shown in the drawing and will be described herein in
detail a preferred embodiment of the invention. It should be
understood, however, that the present disclosure is to be
considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention
and is not intended to limit the invention to the embodiment
illustrated. The scope of the invention will be pointed out in the
appended claims.
Referring now to the drawing, FIG. 1 shows the hamper hood 10 of
the present invention installed on a conventional hamper stand 12
which also supports a conventional hamper bag 14. After the hood 10
is placed over the stand 12, the draw strings 16 are pulled taut
and secured in place by locking device 18.
The hamper hood 10 has a side wall 20 and a top comprised of two
flaps 22 and 24. As shown in FIG. 1, the top is generally circular
in shape and the two flaps are generally semi-circular in shape.
Each of the flaps is secured along the curved portion of its
periphery to the upper edge of side wall 20. The unsecured
peripheral part of the flap is that portion of the flap's edge that
is not secured to the side wall.
In the preferred embodiment, a first flap 22 is slightly larger
than one-half the total area of the top of the hamper hood. A
second flap 24 is also slightly larger than one-half of the area of
the top. Thus, when second flap 24 is secured to the upper edge of
the side wall 20, it substantially overlaps first flap 22 at a
position spaced apart from the unsecured peripheral part of the
first flap; and the unsecured peripheral part of the first flap
also substantially overlaps the second flap at a position spaced
apart from the unsecured part of the second flap to form a
generally rectangular overlapping region 26 along the length of the
unsecured peripheral edges of the flaps. When the flaps are fully
overlapped they define a fully closed overlapping position and
serve to prevent any airborne bacteria inside of the bag 14 from
escaping out of the bag and contaminating the atmosphere.
Preferably, the top of the hamper hood is approximately the same
size as the overall size of the hamper stand 12 at its top so that
the hamper stand 12 maintains the hamper hood top taut. This
insures that the unsecured peripheral parts of the flaps are
generally flat, with the portion of each flap in the overlapping
region 26 being juxtaposed and in contact with each other.
Moreover, the entire unsecured peripheral edges 28 and 30 of each
flap are juxtaposed to, and generally in contact with, a portion of
the opposing flap in the overlapping region 26, when one is not
separating the flaps. Pulling the draw strings 16 taut and securing
the same by conventional locking device 18 further insures that the
hamper hood will remain taut and firmly in place on the hamper
stand 12.
When one desires to insert laundry articles into the hamper bag 14,
one need merely place the article on top of bottom flap 22 and
slide it fully underneath the peripheral edge 28 of flap 24 and
over the peripheral edge 30 of bottom flap region 22, whereupon it
will drop into the interior of hamper bag 14. During this insertion
operation, one need only separate the flaps an amount sufficient
for the laundry article to pass through the respective flaps,
thereby minimizing the air space where airborne bacteria inside the
bag 14 can escape to the atmosphere. After the laundry article is
inserted, the respective flaps assume their fully closed
overlapping position due to the tension on the hamper hood top
provided by the hamper stand and thus substantially eliminate any
airborne bacteria inside the bag from escaping. The separated flaps
are illustrated in FIG. 2. The flaps are shown in the fully closed
position in FIG. 3 in solid lines, and the open position is
depicted in phantom.
By way of example, the diameter of the top is preferably about 18
(45 centimeters), the diameter of some standard hamper bags and
stands presently used in the industry, and the width of the
rectangular overlap region 26 is approximately 4 inches (10
centimeters). This relationship of diameter length to overlap width
sufficiently creates a substantial overlap, so that the flaps
assume an overlapping position after a laundry article has been
inserted.
Also shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are two handles 32 and 34, each
positioned at opposite sides of the top of the hamper hood where
the second flap 24 overlaps the first flap 22 near the side wall
20. Each of the two handle ends is secured to the hood at a
different corner of the generally rectangular overlap region 26, at
the ends of peripheral edges 28 and 30.
After a laundry article is inserted through the flaps, one may pull
these handles away from each other to further insure that the hood
assumes a fully closed position. Since the handles are mounted at
the corners of the generally rectangular overlap region 26, pulling
the handles away from each other will insure that the peripheral
edge 28 of flap 24 and the peripheral edge 30 of flap 22 are fully
extended and straight. However, due to the substantial overlap of
the flaps created by the relationship of hood diameter to overlap
region width and the tautness on the hamper hood top provided by
the hamper stand 12 and drawstrings 16, it is not required to pull
on the handles for the hood to assume a closed position.
Although the preferred embodiment illustrated and described has a
circular configuration, the hamper hood is capable of assuming
other configurations, such as a rectangular.
* * * * *